Legal and Business Issues in Youth, High School and Recreational Sports
Panel #6
Why do we care? PARTICIPANTS
1. NCAA = 460,000 (D1 = 170,000)
2. 4 MAJOR SPORTS COMBINED = @3,600
3. SOCHI OLYMPICS = 2,800
Youth Sports
77% middle schools offer sports participation opportunities
Participation in Youth Sports
• 1997• 44,962,126 total • 32,822,352 actual (unduplicated)
• 2008 • 60,316,548 total • 44,031,080 actual (unduplicated)
Why do we care? PARTICIPANTS
1. Youth Sports = 44,000,000
2. NCAA = 460,000 (D1 = 170,000)
3. 4 MAJOR SPORTS COMBINED = @3,600
4. SOCHI OLYMPICS = 2,800
Participation in High School Athletics
• 1988 – 89 = 5,256,196
• 2012‐2013 = 7,713,577
Youth and High School Sports
Why do we care? PARTICIPANTS
1. Youth Sports = 44,000,000
2. High School Sports = 7,713,577
3. NCAA = 460,000 (D1 = 170,000)
4. 4 MAJOR SPORTS COMBINED = @3,600
5. SOCHI OLYMPICS = 2,800
Why do we care? PARTICIPANTS
1. Recreational Sports = 141,000,000
2. Youth Sports = 44,000,000
3. High School Sports = 7,713,577
1. NCAA = 460,000 (D1 = 170,000)
2. 4 MAJOR SPORTS COMBINED = @3,600
3. SOCHI OLYMPICS = 2,800
Why do we care? PARTICIPANTS
Youth, High School, Rec
Sports• 192,713,577
All other levels of sport
• 466,400
Concussions
Sports injuries for youth/high school athletes
2001‐2005 207,830 emergency room visits for concussion and other traumatic brain injuries (TBI) related to sports and recreation activities 5‐18 years old Nonfatal Traumatic Brain Injuries Related to Sports and Recreation Activities Among Persons Aged ≤ 19 years – United States,
2001‐2009, MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT, Oct. 7, 2011
2012 1.35 million children went to emergency departments with sports‐related injuries. 163,670 children went to emergency departments for sports‐related concussions, which is one child every three minutes
RENNIE FERGUSON ET AL., GAME CHANGERS: STATS, STORIES AND WHAT COMMUNITIES ARE DOING TO PROTECTYOUNG ATHLETES. (2013)
Youth Football
1. 5 million participants in U.S.• 1.3 million high school• 3.5 million youth (70%)
2. Followed 6‐9 year olds1. During games 307 impacts2. Practice 441 impacts (impacts of higher magnitude)
3. Level of severity is similar to some of the more severe impacts college players experience, even though the youth players have less body mass and play at slower speeds
Ray W. Daniel, Steven Rowson and Stefan M. Duma, Head Impact Exposure in Youth Football, Annals of Biomedical Engineering Volume 40, Number 4 (2012)
High School Football
• 497 fatalities of football players from 1945 – 1999
• 69% due to brain injuries
• 7.08 average injuries HS annually
• All while supervised / Most while being or making a tackle
• Perhaps the most worrisome finding in this study is that 59% of those contacted stated that the athlete had a prior mild head injury, with 71% occurring during the same season. • Boden et al., Catastrophic Head Injuries in High School and College
Football Players, 35 Am. J. Sports Med. 1075, 1077 (2007)
Concussions
Every state has enacted a youth concussion law since 2009
1. Education requirements for coaches2. Waivers/permission to play for athletes3. Return to play guidelines for both
Concussions
1. Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association When in Doubt, Sit Them Out
2. Department of Public Instruction Guidelines
3. Wis. Stat. § 118.293. Concussion and head injury
Education efforts not working.
• Study of 778 football and girls soccer players (10.7% had a concussion during year studied 22 had more than 2)
• Majority of athletes continued to practice and play while symptomatic
• 40% reported that their coach was not aware of their concussion symptoms, despite signing statement at the beginning of the year that they would tell their coach
• Coach awareness of athletes’ concussions did not vary by education they received about concussions (use of video and accompanying quiz was least effective), nor by awareness of the requirements of the concussion law
• Frederick P. Rivara, Melissa A. Schiff, Sara P. Chrisman, Shana K. Chung, Richard G. Ellenbogen and Stanley A. Herring, The Effect of Coach Education on Reporting of Concussions Among High School Athletes After Passage of a Concussion Law, The American Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 42, No. 5.
Education efforts not working.
Study of 496 coaches all but three were required to complete concussion education 74.4% required before could coach 16.8% allowed to coach without completing concussion education Only 55.2% were familiar with the term “graduated return to play,” the recommended
management for concussion
All athletes required to sign concussion information form, 89.3% did so ½ coaches personally educated their athletes about concussions 29.5% did not provide anything but the form
Parent education most limited 82.9% required to sign form Only 16.2% coaches provided any further information
▪ Sara P. Chrisman, Melissa A. Schiff, Shana K. Chung, Stanley A. Herring, Frederick P. Rivara, Implementation of concussion legislation and extent of concussion education for athletes, parents, and coaches in Washington State, The American Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 42, No. 5. May 2014.
Kids do not tell their coaches
300,000 REPORTED sports related concussions annually
Study of 167 high school athletes in football, soccer, lacrosse, or cheerleading
89 participants recalled having possible concussion Only 15 (16.9%) reported this to a coach or medical professional
Participants recalled 84 actual concussions Reported only 41 (48.8%) to a coach or medical professional
Participants recalled 584 “bell ringer” events Only 72 (12.3%) were reported In games only, 320 concussive events Only 73 (22.8%) reported
Johna K. Register‐Mihalik, Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Tamara C. Valovich McLeod, Laura A. Linnan, Frederick O. Mueller, and Stephen W. Marshall (2013) Knowledge, Attitude, and Concussion‐Reporting Behaviors Among High School Athletes: A Preliminary Study. Journal of Athletic Training: Sep/Oct 2013, Vol. 48, No. 5, pp. 645‐653.
Kids do not tell their coaches
Why not reporting?
athlete did not think it was serious enough to report ( 70.2%), did not want to be removed from a game (36.5%), did not want to let down teammates (27.0%), did not want to let down coaches (23.0%), did not know it was a concussion (14.9%) did not want to be removed from practice (13.5%)
Participation is declining
• 2008-12• Soccer -7.1%• Baseball -7.2%• Basketball -8.3%• Football overall -5.4%
Title IX, and opportunities for athletes of both genders
Participation
• 44,031,080 actual
• 66% boys / 34% girls
Participation in High School Athletics
• 1971‐72 = 3,666,917 BOYS | 294,015 GIRLS
• 1988‐89 = 3,416,844 BOYS | 1,839,352 GIRLS
• 2012‐13 = 4,490,854 BOYS | 3,222,723 GIRLS
Opportunities for girls have still not matched
the number of opportunities boys had
in 1971‐72
Milwaukee numbers
Local
McCormick v. School Dist. of Mamaroneck, 370 F.3d 275 (2nd Cir. 2004)
Overall Issue: Is scheduling of girls soccer in spring while scheduling boys soccer in fall a violation of Title IX because it does not provide “equal opportunity” to girls?
Facts Girls soccer in New York
In spring in majority of schools Response to survey of girls Girls cannot play in regional and state championships College coaches recruit in fall for scholarship offers Plaintiffs two exceptional girls soccer players
District argued Girls would not qualify for championships Girls not interested in winning Seeks to place soccer above other sports and does not assess impact on other sports
School Board of Brevard County
• Boys' baseball field has an electronic scoreboard, and that the girls' field has no scoreboard at all.
• Boys' baseball team has a batting cage and the girls' softball team does not.
• Photographs submitted by Plaintiffs starkly illustrate that the bleachers on the girls' softball field are in worse condition, and seat significantly fewer spectators, than the bleachers on the boys' field. Girls' bleachers are actually "hand‐me‐downs" that the boys' team passed on to the girls' team after the boys' team received new bleachers.
• There are no restrooms located on the girls' softball field. Restrooms are located on the boys' baseball field. A fence separates the girls' field from the restrooms.
• A combination concession stand/press box/announcer's booth is located on the boys' baseball field. There is no such structure onthe girls' softball field.
• The boys' baseball field is lighted for nighttime play; the girls' softball field is not.
Participation of Disabled Athletes
• 6 M disabled students in public schools / 2 M high school age.
• Among the schools GAO visited, • students with disabilities participated in athletics at varying rates, but at consistently lower
rates than students without disabilities.• students with disabilities who participated in extracurricular athletics often had mild
cognitive disabilities or learning disabilities. • students with hearing impairments, speech impairments, learning disabilities, or other
health impairments reported participating on sports teams at a higher rate compared to students with orthopedic impairments, mental retardation, visual impairments, autism, or multiple disabilities
• students with physical disabilities have fewer opportunities in extracurricular athletics compared to students with cognitive disabilities because fewer programs were designed for them